Battery-plate.



BATTERY PLATE.

APPLICATION FILED )IAB Patented July 29, 1913.

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ATTORNEYS norma -UEiTED sTATEs GUSTAV H. RABENALT, OF' BUFFALO, NEW

YORK, ASSGNOR TO GOULD STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BATTERY-PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led March 26, 1912.4 Serial No. 686,313.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, GUs'rav H. RAnENAI/r, a. citizen of the United States, and a resident of Buffalo, county of Erie, and State of New Yorln'have /invented certain new and use'lul Improvement-s in Battery-Plates, of which the following is a specification. y

My invention relates to an improved method of increasing thecapacity of pasted battery. plates and more particularly'` those such as used in lead storage batteries. The objects and .motive of the invention will more clearly appear from the detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification.

In the drawing Figure l is a side view of a battery plate illustrating my improvements in one form; and Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective of a section ot' such a storage battery plate being treated in accordance with one form of my invention. A'

It is well known that in lead storage battery plates in which dense paste is used as active material, the initial capacity of the plates is quite low, but that after being charged and discharged a number of times, the ca iacity ot' the'plates is increased to i or until it has reached a capacity substantially equal to that of plates made with active material of soft or porous paste. This low initial capacity of the dense paste plate necessitates a very considerable loss in energy or efficiency before the capacity of the plate is brought up to normal, while the plate has the advantage of the soft or porous paste plate of longer life and strength.

One object of the present invention is to 4increase the initial capacity of the dense paste plate in a more advantageous and beneficial manner thereby' obtaining the full initial capacity of the porous plate and at the same. time retaining the long life and strength of the denseI paste plate.

It will be understood that the capacity of a lpasted plate is afunction of the exposed areal of active material. It is, therefore, possible izo increase the capacity ot' a dense paste plate by increasing the exposed area of its activo material.

As shown in Figs. l and 2 provided with an autimony-lead ing upright ribs forming a lattice the plate is grid l hav- 2 and transverse ribs 3 work which islled with a dense paste of well-known composition. The dense paste is mixed -up with` a' liquid in a well-known manner and applied to the grid when in a soft condition, and after it has been pressed into the grid and while still soft", I apply to its surface a sheet of cloth 4, such as scrim. 0n this a sheet of paper or oth smooth material may be placed and then a smooth roller thereto so that the scrim is forced into the surface of the paste, the threads of the scrini forming a large number oi vertical and hori'aontal grooves, leaving the surface covered with a large number of small projections 5 whereby the surface of the active material is roughened siderably increased. The grooves may also be formed by pressing the scrimy into the paste by a flat block of wood, metal or other material, or by using instead of the scrini, a metallic fabric or screen, such as wire-net'- ting, made of any suitable nie-tal especially one which is not readily attached by the ingredients of the paste. This method is more advantageous than thev using orl a rigid die not only because of cheapness and simplicity but because the paste is apt to adhere to such a rigid metal die and possibly' ruin the plate.

Vhen producing ythe roughness'or grooves with a fabric such as scrim, the fabric is left in the surface of -the paste until the paste is sufficiently hardened or set. when the fabric is pulled as shown in Fi o and the grooves or roughness will remain.

A dense paste plate treated in the above manner will have av much larger initial capacity than would otherwise be the, case, and in fact it may bc as :nach as the initial capacity of a soft or porous paste plate. After a number ot' reversals oi charging and discharging, the grooves or depressions become more or less tilled, due to the clou# tro-chcmical action on the paste near the surface. But thisdocs not materially decrease the capacity, if at all, be lanse at this stage the dense paste plate would have any way reached the desired capacity due to the reversals. Furthermore, the grooves or rough depressions allow a more ready and quick electro-chemical action to increase the capacity of the plate by Iproviding space or the expansion of the particles ot' the'. paste at the surface.

and its area very con- A 'PaeenteaJuiy 29,1913.

'applied The production of a large number ofsmall' grooves or irregular de ressions 1n the manner described is much preferred,

ments in great detail, nevertheless I do notV desire to be limited to such details except as clearly pointed out in the appended claims, since many changes and modifications may well be made by those skilled in the a-rt without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention in its broader aspects.

Having ful-ly and clearly described my improvements what'I claim as new, and desire to4 secure by Letters Patent, is

The process of increasing the capacity of pasted storage battery plates which consists in forcing'a fabric die into the paste While sof-t, and removing the die after the paste has sufficiently set to cause the grooves to remain.

In testimony whereof, I havel signed my name to this specication, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

i GUSTAV I-I. RABENALT.

Witnesses:

` HENRY L. FREY,

GRANT L. TALLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

v Washington, D. C. 

